The Eye of the World : Book One of 'The Wheel of Time'

Rating:
Summary: Fantasy at it's worst
Review: When someone recommended this book to me, I picked it up with great interest. I tried very hard to enjoy this book but it was terrible. The characters were the worst ever seen, the settings were boring and the plot was put together rather stupidly. This is the worst work of fantasy along with George R. R. martin's Game of Thrones. There is so little wonder which graces these books. Stay away from this book. If you haven't already read, Tolkien. If so go and try out David Eddings and or some of Terry Brooks' works. Stay away from Robert Jordan!

Rating:
Summary: can there be better?
Review: This book is profoundly delicious, it has awoken within me the child i can no longer be, *sigh*. what a wonderful creation jordan has endeavored w/the wot series, this first installment is nothing short of breathtaking, the characters are familiar friends we delight in knowing, the setting and atmosphere are as rich as chocolate mousse w/whipped topping and for god's sake, i had actual tears in my eyes by page 80, TEARS i say! ~don't just take my word for it, check it out and savor every miniscule detail, for this is truly a great piece of fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Sealed to the Flame
Review: Wow. This book is GREAT! It's a bit long, yes, but I couldn't put it down once I got into it! The plot is incredibly complex, and the characters are definitely interesting. Can't wait for book 9 to come out!

Rating:
Summary: Why not ten books?
Review: I don't get why so many people complain about how many books there are (or will be) in this series. I, for one, hope Jordan continues to write as many books as it takes to complete the series sufficiently and resolve everything in a thought out manner. True that I might be thirty by the time the last book comes out (I am now 18), but that really doesn't bother me. I don't consider myself and exceptionally patient person, only one who can appreciate the thought and detail that goes in to telling a story of epic proportions that is so complex. Keep writing Robert Jordan. Don't cheat your fans out of the wonderfully thought out ending that we all derserve.

Rating:
Summary: What!
Review: I have just read "Tolkien created fantasy and Jordan perfected it." That's a strong opinion. Of course first of all Tolkien never created fantasy, he turned it into a market genre and Jordan would not exist without the High Father of the genre. Second, there is no perfection to be found here. Not that I did not enjoy myself 85% of the time while reading the Eye of the World, but perfect it ain't. The closest one can get to fantasy perfection is the aformentioned High Father of fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien. Robert Jordan, if he's honest, would say the same (cause he's OBVIOUSLY read Tolkien!).

Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Book You'll Not Soon Forget
Review: I just finished The Eye of the World and I already know this book will stay with me for a long time. Unforgetable like Dune and Hobbit. Extemely well written. On my list of top 3 in this genre and top 10 of my all-time favorite reads.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: This book is a must read for any fan of Fantasy Fiction. Tolkien created Fantasy and Jordan perfected it. He has created a world so real that every little detail is taken into consideration. I believe his magic system is the best ever created. This would make an incredible RPG world.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but ...
Review: Been there done that. If this book is an homage to Lord of the Rings. It does a good job. If not, it's awfully derivative. Many characters from Middle Earth make an appearance under a new name -- Ents, Trolls, Orcs, Sauron, Gandalf, Ringwraiths ... they're all in there. The rest of the series gets better, although it draws heavily from the Dune series -- Aes Sedai? Bene Gesserit. Aiel? Fremen. Rand Al'Thor? Paul Muad'dib. Don't get me wrong, I got the first two for Christmas and bought the rest. They're a fun read. But don't look for anything you haven't seen before ...

Rating:
Summary: As the Wheel Turns
Review: Thus begins Robert Jordan's best-selling Wheel of Time series. Jordan's work is a strange mixture of orginial material and blatent Tolkien 'inspiration.' There are thousands and thousands of parallels to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien (the Myrdraal = Nazgul, Lan = Aragorn, etc, etc). However, at the same time, I did find myself enjoying this read, even though I struggled at first with these aforementioned parallels. If you're a huge Tolkien fan and are preparing to read The Eye of the World for the first time, you should certainly be wary of the sometimes dubious similarities, but you should not let it scare you off completely. This is all together good stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Classic fantasy saga
Review: The Wheel of Time (WOT) saga is something no fan of fantasy can do without. The Eye of the World is the first book in the series and is largely devoted to introducing the main characters in a complex cast, their habitat and their personalities. Unfortunately for Jordan, the WOT saga faces the daunting challenge of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and comes off second best. Tolkien's world view, the flow of his story and most of all the sheer lyricism of his prose, songs, rhymes and the names of places and persons are impossible to beat and Jordan suffers in comparison. It is also true that the WOT series draws heavily from Tolkien as well as other classics of science fiction, particularly the early Dune novels; the similarities between Fremen-Aiel, Arrakis-Waste, Aes Sedai-Bene Gesserit, are certainly not coincidental. In Jordan's defence, it is no easy task to create a world view and a world to go with it, with a creator and classic good and evil patterns, without following broadly in Tolkien's lead, though he needn't have gone to such lengths (like Ents=Ogiers, Orcs=Trollocs, Nazgul=Myrdraal etc.). For all that, The Eye of the World gets the series off to a good start for a reader with the patience to follow the numerous characters and sub-plots. Some hard concentration is needed since after all it is the reader's first look at a different world so be prepared for some hard work. And Jordan offers no help by way of a decent prologue. In fact, it is only mid-way through Book 4 (The Shadow Rising) of the series, that the background to the Forsaken, the attempt to free the Dark Lord, the Aiel, the Wandering and other skeins of the pattern become clear. It would greatly help the reader if Jordan had given at least a bare bones prologue. For that matter, if his prologue is scanty, his glossary at the end is sparse and full of gaps. Worse, the single map of the world that Jordan grudgingly gives is pathetic. Numerous places and rivers mentioned in the text are not to be found in the map and the reader is left vainly switching from text to glossary to map and back again. Hence only 4 stars for not caring for your readers, Mr. Jordan. But hey people, don't let my grumbles deter you. The Eye of the World has its own charm; the innocence of the main characters in the beginning, the depiction of village life, the sense of gathering doom and excellently portrayed as the Emond's Fielders, not quite comprehending what lies ahead of them set off to meet with an inescapable destiny. Once you finish this first in the series, you will be hooked and gasping for the next. And don't judge the series by this one book; wait till you finish at least the first 3.